Leigh Leopards make history with landmark albeit narrow win over Wigan Warriors

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Local rugby league side Leigh Leopards made multiple kinds of history with a landmark win over Greater Manchester rivals Wigan Warriors on Thursday night – their first in over four decades.

Head coach Adrian Lam called on his team to live up to the standards and energy they’ve been showing in and out of training of late, and although it turned out to be an even more hard-fought victory than anyone expected, they managed it.

It was a Super League season opener that no one could have predicted and despite not being a high-scoring game (far from it, in fact), the fans watching inside the ground and on TV couldn’t have asked for a more dramatic atmosphere and eventual outcome.

For starters, they even got to see legendary boxing announcer Michael Buffer get the 2025 Betfred Super League proceedings underway.

In case you haven’t seen the scoreline already, Leigh Leopards defeated Wigan Warriors for the first time since 1983 – a whole 13 years before the Super League era had even begun.

Prior to this fixture, the reigning champions were on a five-game winning streak too, but they ultimately found themselves down to just a dozen players while the Leopards still boasted 13 as the clock ticked on.

As no one could find a breakthrough in the normal halves, the two teams went on to play out an extremely tense golden point decider, with only a handful of matches having unfolded this way in 2024.

Step-up 33-year-old Warrington-born former Wolves player, Gareth O’Brien, whose single drop goal in the 82nd minute sealed the result.

Here’s the moment it happened and just look at the reaction around the Brick Community Stadium:

To absolutely no one’s surprise, Leigh fans, players and dugout alike were sent into absolute bedlam, with an ecstatic Lam embracing his coaching staff in the stands.

Winning just 1-0 might not sound that exciting but you have to take into account the wider context.

On the one hand, although it was the lowest-scoring game ever since the modern era started back in 1993, it was also Leigh’s first win over the old adversaries for more than a generation.

And the milestones didn’t stop there.

Thursday night’s ‘Battle for the Borough’ was also the biggest attendance for the first game of the season in Super League history, with 21,748 turning up for Round One – the most since Wigan‘s opener against Warrington Wolves in 2007 (21,693).

Safe to say it doesn’t need explaining how much it meant to them.

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Speaking on the “football score” after the game, Lam argued the end spectacle will do wonders for the sport’s exposure, adding: “This is just the beginning. [We need to] keep our feet grounded and keep working hard.”

Even last season’s quadruple-winning Coach of the Year, Adam Peet, had to hold his up and just applauded the scenes, telling Sky Sports: “An amazing game, all the credit goes to Leigh […] both sets of players were incredible […] what they’ve built in the last couple of years, they deserve it.”

Is this the start of a new era for Leigh? There’s certainly plenty for Greater Manchester rugby fans to be excited about and the competition looks set to be stronger than ever.

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Featured Images — Betfred Super League (screenshots via YouTube)